Amending tobacco control law: We must stick to banning loose sale of tobacco products

The Government of Bangladesh enacted the Tobacco Products Use (Control) Law in 2005 as the first country to sign the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). 

In 2013, the law was amended to protect public health and make it stronger. However, in the current context, the Ministry of Health of Bangladesh has submitted several draft amendment proposals, added new clauses, and collected public opinion to make it stronger with a view to realising the prime minister's vision of making "Tobacco Free Bangladesh by 2040". 

In favour of this new draft amendment, around sixteen thousand opinions were submitted to the Ministry of Health by teachers and students of schools, colleges, madrasahs and universities, imams, priests, doctors, researchers, journalist forums, officials of various organisations, youth forums, poor community members, mother parliament members, bidi workers and leaders which made this amendment more meaningful. 

The restrictions on the sale of tobacco products (10-a) are among the several new sections that the Ministry of Health has added to the Tobacco Control Law. The clause reads as follows: "No person shall sell any tobacco products thyself or through someone else by retail or untied except complete packets, wrappers or cartons." This clause is expected to lower the purchase of tobacco products by low-income people and youth.

According to the WHO's Global School Based Student Health Survey (GSSH) of 2014, "The number of tobacco product users among students aged 13-17 in Bangladesh is 9.8% and the number of tobacco product users in the age group sixteen-seventeen is 16%. On the other hand, according to the 2017 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), the total number of tobacco users in Bangladesh is about 35%.

In addition, a study in India on banning the sale of single cigarette sticks by Ishwari K, Kulkarni MM et al (2020) found that most smokers in Bangladesh, India and the Philippines buy cigarette sticks instead of whole packs. Due to this reason, many youths are addicted to smoking and are at serious health risk. 

The retail sale of bidi-cigarettes and the sale of untied tobacco products were not banned in the TC Law 2005 (amended in 2013), which was one of the weakest points of the law. The younger generation and low-income generating people who cannot afford to buy the whole packets or bundles are able to purchase cigarettes sticks and untied open tobacco products very easily. Therefore, to protect this generation from health hazards and to reduce the use of tobacco products among them, the new section-10 (a) is an essential attachment to the draft proposal.

Retail or untied open sale of cigarettes and tobacco products resulted in higher profits for sellers. In addition, due to the open and retail selling of cigarette and tobacco products in shops, it is not possible to display graphical health warnings. As a result, tobacco control measures in Bangladesh, especially graphic health warnings, did not play an effective role in reducing the use of tobacco products.

Therefore, as the first signatory country, the Ministry of Health of Bangladesh has added new clause-10 (a) in the draft amendment to make it consistent with the article 16 of the FCTC (obligation to enact legislation to ban the selling of bidi or cigarette sticks and small packs).

One hundred and eighteen countries in the world, including many countries in Asia, such as Thailand, Maldives, Singapore, Myanmar, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Cambodia have completely banned the sale of individual cigarettes and untied open tobacco products, and are enjoying the benefits.

Therefore, it is a sensible and timely decision by the Ministry of the health to include the clause of prohibiting the retail or open selling of tobacco products into the draft amendment of the law. It is of paramount importance that the clause is included in the final amendment of the law.

Mohammad Zobair Hasan is Deputy Executive Director, Development Organisation of the Rural Poor (DORP).

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